Apparatus for cleaning watches and watch parts



1952 J. A. PERSSON APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WATCHES AND WATCH PARTS 2SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed May 5, 1948 r u 1 O H 8 0 H 3 r m 0. 8 W 3 2 H J 0a Q I "II I 1 3 o lillllll J a 5 w E 7 W "9% 0 4 v 4 "M a 4: 2 2 M K t Mr 4 3 6 7 4 9 a 5 JJ a a M f M f P 2 0 O 4 W 4 1 IN V EN TOR. Jonas filmer Perssorz xhH JIGENZS.

Oct. 28, 1952 J. A. PERSSON 2,615,455

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WATCHES AND WATCH PARTS Filed May 5, 1948 2SHEETS-SHEET 2 I '1 f C 11 INVENTOR. I /59 (t L Jonms liimer Persson y6'5 2 BY Patented Oct. 28, 1952 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WATCHES AND WATCHPARTS Jonas Almer Persson, Hassela, Sweden Application May 5, 1948,Serial No. 25,287 In Sweden May 7, 194-7 6 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to a simple and effective apparatus forcleaning watches and watch parts in which a rotatable perforated casingor the like, which is driven by an electric motor and adapted to beraised and lowered, is arranged to be automatically and consecutivelylowered into a number of containers containing suitable cleansingliquids and placed on an intermittently rotatable disc.

The invention is substantially characterized by a vertically pivotedlink system comprising at least four pivots and co-operating' with.movement transmission members adapted to turn the disc carrying thecontainers to a certain extent during the upward movement of the. linksystem.

A specific object of the'present invention resides in the provision of awatch cleaning apparatus' of the described character whichv isconstructed so that, during each operation, the containers not thenreceiving the perforated casing are automatically closed. Y

Another object resides in the provision of apparatus of the describedcharacter including heating means arranged to dry the parts in theperforated casing at the conclusion of the cleaning operations.

Another object is to provide a device of the described characterembodying a shield for the perforated casing which is automaticallyremoved from covering position, when the casing is lowered, and restoredto covering position when the casing is suitably raised.

A further object is to provide an apparatus of the described characterin whichthe perforated casing is raised mechanically out of thecontainers and is dropped'gravitationally into the latter so that themovement of the. casing into the successive containers is accelerated.These and other characteristics, objects and advantages of the inventionwill be further described below with reference to example ofconstruction'shown in the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 illustrates a front view of the apparatus having part of the casecut away.

Figs. 2' and 3 are drawn. on a larger scale and show a part of theapparatus in two different operative positions.

Fig. 4 illustrates on a larger scale the actuating mechanism for theintermittently rotatable disc, while Fig. 5 shows a plan view of theintermittently rotatable disc on a smaller scale.

Fig. 6 finally illustrates the electric diagram of connections for thesaid apparatus;

The apparatus consists of a case I which also serves as a frame. In thebottom 2 of the case i the lower part of ashaft- 3' is rotatably andslidingly mounted, the upper part of said shaft -being journalled in anintermediate floor 4. Spaced from the bottom 2 the shaft 3 carries adisc 5 which is fixedv thereto for rotation with'the shaft. On this discare placed a number of (in the present construction four) containers 6containing different kinds of cleansing liquids and a dryingcontainer 1. I

A casing ll consisting of wire netting or the like, and intended toreceive the watch parts that are to be cleaned, is attached to the lowerend of the shaft it of a vertically arranged electric reversible motor 9suspended above the intermediate floor 4- on upwardly anddownwardlydisplaceable parallel link arms 8 attached to the frame I. To the end ofthe shaft I0 is further attached a centrifugal governor I 2 in order toensure: as uniform a rotation speed as possible. To render possible thelowering of the casing ll into the respective receivers 6 and 1 theintermediate floor 4 is provided. with a cut out portion l3. Around thecasing H is arranged an open ended sleeve" 69- formed to slide upwardlyand downwardly along gu-ide'bars 61 depending from the motor and beingprovided with apair of outwardly projecting lift members 68 at its upperend for a purpose later described. Said sleeve 69 is intended to beautomatically placed around the casing II, when the latter is raised outof a container, thus forming a splash-guard. In order to limit thedownward movement of the sleeve 69- relative to the perforatedcasing toa position in which the sleeve covers the casing, the lower ends 6111 ofthe bars 61- are bent outwardly (Fig. l) to extend into the path oftravel of the sleeve and act as stops.

The pendulous motion of the link arms, and thus the upand downwardmotion of the casing H is obtained by means of a special mechanismdriven by the motor 9.. Hence the upper end- I l of the motors-hartcomprises a worm wheel and co-operates with a. gear wheel [5 fixed to ashaft Himounted on top of the motor 9. The shaft I6 is by means of aCardan join-t l1 connected to a shaft assembly- I 8 extendingsubstantially parallel to the link arms 8 and provided with an auxiliarytelescopic coupling 1! The other endof the shaft assembly Mr is in: asimilar manner by means of a Cardan: joint connected to a shaft 20mounted. in the frame I-. Said shaft 2-!!- carries a gear wheel2-lmeshing with a gear wheel 23 fixed on a worm shaft 22. for rotatingthe latter. A runner 24- threadedly engages and: travels back and--forth ontheworm shaft 22 in accordance with. the direction of rotation.of the reversible motgl 9. The: runner 241 is prevented: from rotatingwith the worm shaft 22 by means of a yoke 25, which engages a shaft 26arranged above the shaft 22. The side of the runner 24 facing downwardsis provided with an abutment 27 arranged to co-operate with the free endof an arm 28. This arm, which is forced upwardly to rest against therunner 24 by a spring 29 is pivoted to one arm 30 of an angular lever orbell-crank pivoted to the intermediate floor 4. The other arm 3| of saidangular lever is connected to one of the link arms 8 through aconnecting rod 32. A U -shaped member 33 is hinged to the runner 24 andco-operates with a spring catch 34 which is fixedly supported in such aposition that, when the direction of movement of runner 24 is reversednear the position occupied in Fig. 2, the member 33 is caught by thecatch 34 and swung down toward the arm 28 to disengage the free end ofthe said arm 28 from the abutment 2T, whereupon, after further movementof runner 24 in the reversed direction sufficient to disengage themember 33 from the catch 34, the member 33 is brought backto its initialposition by a spring 35. Thus, disengagement of the end of arm 28 fromthe abutment 2i permits unimpeded swinging of the bell-crank arms 36 and3| in the counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1, so that themotor 9 and the perforated casing i i are lowered gravitationally toproject the casing through the opening I3 in the intermediate wall. Thisfree drop of the casing II after release of the arm 28 from the runner24 decreases the time required for lowering the perforated casing andincreases the portion of the period required for an operating cycleduring which the casing is immersed.

In order to mufiie the downward motion of the link arms 8 and thus alsothe motion of the motor 9 and easing H a damper 36, consisting of acylinder in which a piston is arranged, is mounted between one of thelink arms 8 and the intermediate floor 4.

A ratchet wheel 3'! engaging a spring operated ratchet pawl 38 isoperable in intermittently turning the shaft 3 to which is fixed thedisc 5 carrying the containers 6 and 1. The ratchet pawl 38 is pivotedto a disc 39 which is freely turnable around the shaft 3, the disc beingconnected to the parallel link arms 8 by means of connecting rods 40 and4| To the connecting rod 4! is fixed an upwardly inclined arm 42, theupper end of which is brought to engage the upper edge of a link arm 6in such a manner, that when the latter moves upwards the rod 4! iscaused to swing towards the shaft 3, and through the rod 40 operate thedisc feed mechanism, thus causing the disc 5 to be turned one step.

Further, one arm of a double-armed lever 43 is attached to the upper endof the shaft 3, the other arm of saidlever 43 being connected to one ofthe parallel link arms 8 by a connecting rod 44 causing the shaft 3, andthereby also the disc 5 to be raised by the downward motion of the linkarms 8. Discs 45 of suitable packing or sealing material are secured tothe under surface of the intermediate wall 4 to be engaged by the upperopen ends of the containers 6 and I when the disc 5 is raised by thedownward motion of the link arms 8. Thus, those containers notregistered with the opening I3 are automatically closed during eachimmersion period of the operating cycle of the described apparatus.

For stopping the motor 9 at the end of a cleaning operation, i. e. whenthe disc 5, carrying the 1 4 a switch fitted in a switch box 46 isoperated by an arm 41 and a rod 48, the latter projecting through theintermediate floor 4 and terminating directly above the disc 5. Theswitch is adapted to be closed when the rod is in its lowest position inwhich it is normally kept by a spring 49. The switch is caused to breakthe circuit when the disc v5 in its final position is raised. Anabutment 50 is then located directly below the rod 48 and presses therod upwards against the action of the spring 49. The upward motion ofthe rod 48 further operates an arm 5| of some suitable kind of bell 52.

The direction of rotation of the reversible electric motor 9 may bereversed, for instance by reversing the direction of the current throughthe armature coils or the stator coils of the motor.

This is obtained by providing the slidable shaft 26 with two stops 53and 54, so placed that the yoke 25 of the runner 24 engages either ofthese stops when it reaches each respective end of its path, thuscausing a displacement of said shaft 26. One end of an angular lever 55(Figs. 2 and 3) engages the shaft 26, and is at its other end. connectedto a double-armed rod 56 by means of a spring 51. The rod 56 is pivotedon. a stud 58 and is operative to two pairs of contacts 59, 60 and 6!,62 respectively, through the contact members 63 and 64 attached to eachend of the rod. The diagram of connections shown in Fig. 6

illustrates how these contacts and contact members are connected toelectric circuit. The switch 65 located in the switch box 46 which isoperated by the rods 41 and 48 is also included in this dia gram. 66designates a heating element parallelly connected to the motor 9 andlocated immediately below the downwardly open drying container 1 whichis arranged above a corresponding opening in the disc 5.

The apparatus operates in the manner described below, when starting fromthe position in which the casing l I rests in a lowered position betweenthe drying container 1 and the first of the containers 6. The motor isnot running as the switch 65 is open on account of the rods 41, 48 beingraised by the abutment 50.

The switch 65 is closed by lifting the casing I l and the motor 9 byhand to their upper position, causing the motor to start in such adirection that the runner 24 starts traveling from right to left,whereupon the disc 5 is rotated by hand to the position in which thefirst container 6 registers with the cut out portion l3 in theintermediate fioor 4. The motor 9 and the casing H are then allowed tolower themselves by gravity against the action of the damping device 36,causing the free end of the arm 28 to be extended past the runner 24 toits left terminal position. When the casing H is lowered into thecontainer 6 the splash guard 69 is displaced upwards along the guidebars 61 by engagement of the lift members 68 with the intermediate wall4, thus uncovering the casing ll. During this downward motion, in whichalso the parallel link arms 6 take part, the disc 5 together with thecontainers 6 and 1 is raised by the action of the rod system 43, 44 toclose the inactive containers against the pads 45. When the runner 24,after having passed the free end of the arm 28, is adjacent to its leftterminal position, the yoke 25 of the runner engages the stop 53,causing the shaft 26 to be carried along. This causes the angular lever55 to operate the switch device 59--64 from the position shown in Fig. 2to the position indicated in Fig. 3. As a result the direction ofrotation of the motor, as well as that of the worm shaft 22,

is reversed causing the runner 24 to travel from left to right. The freeend of the arm 28 will then engage the abutment 21 of'the runner 2'4,forcing the arm 28 to be carried along with the runner 24 in itsrightward motion, which will cause a displacement of the angular lever30, 3!, which by means of the connecting rod 32 raises the parallel linkarms 8 and their attached motor 9 and casing II to the position shown inFig. 1. When the link arms have reached such a position that the casingII has just been withdrawn from the container 6, the arm 42 engages theupper edge of the parallel link arm 8 through an adjustable screw H,thereby operating the ratchet mechanism 31-49 by means of the connectingrods 4|, 40 in order to move the disc 5 one step, i. e. so far that thenext container is placed under the cut out portion 13.

Before the runner 24 reaches its right terminal position and thus causesthe motor and the worm shaft '22 to be reversed by the action of therunner on the shaft 26, the left-hand pointed end of the U-shaped member33 passes in under the spring catch 34. When the runner 24 once againstarts traveling to the left, the member 33 by engaging the spring catch34, as shown in Fig. 2, will be pressed downwards against the action ofthe spring 35 and cause the arm 28 to be released so that the link arms8 with the attached motor 9 and casing I I are lowered independently ofthe runner 24 to obtain a quicker descent and longer period ofimmersion.

The sequence described above is repeated till the casing I I has beenconsecutively dipped into each one of the containers 6 and into thedrying container I. After the casing l I has been raised out of thecontainer I and the disc 5 has been turned a step forward, the abutment50 has once again reached the position in which it registers with therod 48, which operates the main switch 65. When the link arms 8 in afollowing step of operation are lowered, the disc 5 is raised and causesthe switch 65 to cut the current. When the rod 48 is raised the arm 5|of the bell 52 is simultaneously operated so as to indicate that thecleaning operation is finished.

Naturally the invention is not limited to the construction shown anddescribed above, but may be varied in several ways within the scope ofthe invention.

Having now particularly described the nature of my invention and themanner of its operation what I claim is:

1. A watch cleaning machine comprising a housing having a horizontalintermediately located wall disposed therein; a vertically extendingshaft rotatably and slidably journalled in said wall and extending belowthe latter; a disc carried by said shaft below said wall; an openingformed through said wall; a plurality of spaced apart containers forcontaining cleansing fluids carried by said disc and adapted tosuccessively register with said opening; substantially parallel linkarms disposed above said wall and each pivotally carried at one end bysaid housing for swinging in a vertical plane; a reversible electricmotor carried by the other ends of said link arms in vertical alignmentwith said opening and having a vertical rotatable motor shaft; aperforated casing dependingly mounted on said motor shaft and adapted toextend through said opening when said motor is lowered; raising andlowering means actuated by said motor shaft and connected between saidhousing and one of said link arms adapted to manipulate said link armsand thereby lower and raise saidcasing into and out of the one of saidcontainers registered with said opening; means connected between said.link arms and said first mentioned shaft. adapted to intermittentlyrotate the latter during the upward movement of said link arms; andlever means connected between said link arms and said first mentionedshaft adapted to raise the latter'when said link arms are lowered and toengage the tops of the containersnot registered with said openingagainst the lower surface of said wall.

2. .A' watch cleaning machine according to claim 1, wherein a heatingelement is disposed in said housing below said disc in verticalalignment with said casing; and said disc is formed with an openingtherethrough adapted to be selectively registered with said heatingelement to uncover the latter and expose said casing, when lowered, tothe heat from said heating element.

3. A watch cleaning machine according to claim 1, wherein said raisingand lowering means includes a rotatable worm shaft driven by said motorshaft; runner threa-dedly engaging said worm shaft and movable along thelatter; switching means connected to said motor and engageable by saidrunner at the opposite extremities of the travel of the latter and uponsuch engagement reversing the direction of rotation of said motor shaftand said worm shaft; a lever system connected at one end to said one ofsaid link arms, and at the other end adapted to engage said runnerduring movement of the latter in one direction raising said link 'arms;disengaging means operative in response to the reversal of movement ofsaid runner from said one direction to the opposite direction todisengage said other end of said lever system from said runner tothereby efiect lowering of said link arms by gravity; and damping meansengaging said link arms adapted to dampen the downward movement thereof.

4. A watch cleaning machine according to claim 1, including a source ofelectrical current; conductors extending between said source and saidmotor; a normally closed switch interposed in one of said conductors;and switch operating means including a vertically movable operating rodo-peratively connected to said switch and adapted to open the latterwhen in the raised position, and an abutment carried 'by said discregistering withsaid operating rod in one rotated position of said discand adapted to raise said rod for opening said switch when said firstmentioned shaft is raised with said disc in said one rotated position tothereby cut-01f said motor from said source of electrical current.

5. A watch cleaning machine according to claim 1, including a signaldevice; a vertically movable operating rod operatively connected to saidsignal device and adapted to actuate the latter when in the raisedposition; and an abutment carried by said disc underlying said operatingrod in one rotated position of said disc, and adapted to raise said rodfor actuating said signal device when said first mentioned shaft israised with said disc in said one rotated position.

6. A watch cleaning machine according to claim 1, including a sleeveslidably mounted concentric with said casing and adapted to receive thelatter, means on said sleeve engageable with intermediate wall fromabove when said casing is lowered below said intermediate wall andoperative to raise said sleeve relative to said casing for uncoveringthe latter, and means operatively associated with said motor and adaptedto limit 7 the downward movement of said sleeve relative to said casingto a position in which said sleeve covers the casing so that, when saidmotor and casing are raised above said intermediate wall, said sleevecovers and thereby shields said casing.

JONAS ALMER PERSSON.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Curry July 4, 1905Number Number 8 Name Date Flegel May 14, 1929 Haber Oct. 29, 1929 GrossMar. 31, 1931 Olson Sept. 27, 1932 Kirby Mar. 13, 1934 Hensler July 27,1937 Repasy Dec. 19, 1939 Pabst Mar. 26, 1940 Keehnel May 9, 1944Friedman Feb. 25, 1947

